INCABLENET ROLLS OUT FIBRE OPTICS

Multi-systems operator InCableNet has started deploying optical fibre in Mumbai. The firm has close to 750,000 cable TV subscribers in the metro and is currently stringing the Lucent Technologies fibre over building tops to upgrade its network to a hybrid fibre coax (HFC) one. It has already deployed around 10 km of fibre from its corporate head office-cum-central-control room in the northern Mumbai suburb of Andheri. The fibre is going out in all directions. The management expects to deploy around 150 km of fibre to link up its 14 head-ends all over Mumbai to its central control room in Andheri. It has opted for General Instruments' nodes and 29 of these are to be installed all over the city replacing existing head-ends. InCableNet's franchisees have in the past opposed InCableNet's efforts to upgrade to fibre optics as it would mean them giving up their headends. But the management has been meeting with them in the past month and has managed to make them see reason, sources reveal.

The company has applied for permission to use government-owned utilities' facilities for its fibre deployment. It had done so in the past but had not been given the go-ahead.